It is starting to be a habit to reschedule and replan the trip every other day. Before coming to Aleppo, I had more or less organized a route. Roughly ten days to visit the country. But then you meet people on your way and they start talking about places you have never heart of (my guide doesn't even mention them) and experiences that sound amazing, and here we are again, replanning the trip to allocate more time to this beautiful country. I have finally decided to extend my visit to up to 15 days to be able to go by train to Lattakia and being able to cross a mountain range and enjoy a beautiful landscape, as well as to visit the Qasar'al Saladin castle.

I get up at 6AM to take the 6:45AM train to Lattakia. I get to the station just in time to buy the ticket and get in the train. The trip is quite pleasant (much better than by bus with its reckless drivers and the highways bumps) and the views are quite nice as well. I am exhausted so I spent half of the journey sleeping. When I get to Lattakia it rains. As a good backpacker, I decide not to take a taxi and cover on foot the distance between the train station and the hotel. When I finally get there (after few panic moments due to 1/ my lack of orientations and 2/ the lack of street panels that make orientation impossible), I am totally wet.

With such weather conditions, the visit to Saladin castles is reduced to the minimum expression, despite of its stunning location. After 20 minutes, me and Derrick are already in the taxi back to Lattakia. We spent the rest of the day in a bar talking and smoking nargilehs. At night, we see Barca - Bayern football match, with the local audience clearly backing the Catalan team and enjoying each and every of the 4 goals. We finish the night at a bar drinking a couple of gin tonics (at 1 EURO each). It was a strange day, but very pleasant.